Dreams are the substance of reality that have not been brought forth into existence yet. Whether or not these dreams are ingrained into the subconscious half of the human brain, dreams are something considered to be intangible and dissociated from reality in general.
On the other hand, dreams can also be things that we as human beings want to obtain and achieve in the near or distant future, goals, if you may, that motivate us to be who we are today and where we put ourselves in life.
While browsing quotes on the Internet during my spare time, I happened to glimpse a quote by Paul Wellstone which stated that “sometimes, the only realists are the dreamers.” To have a dream and to not be able to glimpse the tangible mist of reality beneath the latter is a tragic thing. As people, we have dreams of a better life, becoming what we want to become in the future, and so much more. Life is full of unspeakable wonders and achievements that have yet to be unlocked and obtained, sometimes through the hard way and not through the first easy route that comes by.
As such, it can be argued that dreams are the foundation of the future in today’s day and age.
Every day, I meet new people, see new faces, and listen to new voices. Sometimes, I wonder, what dreams did these people have, or what dreams do this people have?
Are their dreams any different from mine?
My dreams are varied at the moment. I remember being the same as a child, having that desire to become everything as an adult. Becoming a singer, a doctor, an artist, and various other things while ignoring with bliss all the possible and numerous obstacles that I would eventually encounter to pursue such dreams was the core of my childhood. Without the influence of my parents and my friends and family in the Philippines, I wouldn’t have gotten to achieve anything that I am right now.
I remember the day I decided to become a singer.
Nine years ago, I was in the front seat of the car, driving home from a late night seminar with my dad from the busy and well lit area of Makati City, with all its buildings, billboards, and hotels that seemed to give off a feeling of wonder and awe in the afterglow of their flashing lights. My six year old self, restless and carefree, glanced occasionally at the speeding cars and traffic lights, ignoring completely everything else, smitten with the fast paced city life that I glimpsed through the misty glass of the car window.
It was then that my father decided to pull out this cassette tape that we had gotten a couple of weeks earlier at a concert in our church by the daughter of one of my father’s colleagues. He inserted it into the player and it started playing, gently weaving its familiar sequence of songs into my mind.
As a child, my parents had fed and raised me on a steady diet of classical music and musicians, such as Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. I also listened to singers like Steve Green, Don Moen, and all the Disney music from the animated films, but I never dreamed of becoming like these musicians at all, until I heard the woman on that tape that my father played.
Her voice was as smooth as the keys of a piano reverberating against the backdrop of white noise, as clear as crystal, and as sharp as a blade in her diction.
I knew I wanted to be like her.
It was just a simple wish, but I didn’t know I would actually achieve what I had asked for. After all, it was only a wish of a young child – what good would it do to dream without purpose, without reason?
What good would it do to dream only of a future that was near impossible to achieve?
It did me good, I can tell you that.
As if on cue, a few weeks later, there was an announcement at my school that a choir was visiting us to hold auditions for aspiring singers of classical music.
I thought to myself, “This has got to be a coincidence.”Just when I decide to become a singer, this perfect opportunity shows up in front of me, unknowingly, and unexpectedly. I had told no one of my desire to join the choir, and most of my friends thought I was not the type to engage in singing, let alone joining a choir.
Back in elementary, I was not the most sociable person or the person who was most likely to engage in extracurricular activities that were related to music. I was the oddball, the honor student cooped up with tons of rigid work and academic achievements to maintain – I practically had no time for other things, or so they thought.
They were wrong. In fact, they were immensely wrong. I remember going home and digging out the tape that my dad had played in the car previously, and listening over and over to it again. Somehow, there was only one song that captivated me so much that I decided to use it as my audition piece for the choir.
Out of the more than thirty people in the whole elementary who auditioned, only two were chosen, and I was one of the two.It was my first choral experience, and I quite enjoyed it. I did not expect to be complimented on my voice at all, or to be chosen for the choir, for that matter. But I didn’t really care about the details – I was just happy I was in the choir.
Out of all the songs on that tape recording, only that song still has its melody in my head, up until today. I eventually ended up joining a different choir sometime later and I stayed with them for the longest time I ever did, until I had to leave for Canada in early 2009. My whole affair with choral music, however, wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t dreamed.
I would’ve never auditioned for the choir, and I would’ve never found out of my musical capabilities. I would’ve never enjoyed singing so much, and I would’ve never enjoyed the full extent of my classical music upbringing. I most certainly would be a different person from who I am right now, if there was no music in my life.
I am a dreamer, and I know there are more dreamers out there. Many of us Filipinos and Filipinas have come to Canada with hopes and dreams that we wish to fulfill in our lives. Sometimes, it is only through these dreams that we manage to get through this hard life and out of the endless mire of obstacles.
However, we must learn that dreaming alone is not going to help.
As a child, I had and still have a great faith in God. I believe strongly in prayer and I believe faith can work wonders in our life. Without my faith in God, none of my achievements, hopes, goals, and dreams would have been fulfilled at all today, and I most certainly wouldn’t be writing this article in the hopes of sharing my life with the people who are reading this now.
My dreams are dust without my faith in my Creator.
Are you a dreamer? Do you have dreams?
If we dream and have faith in God, what can go wrong?
That being said, in today’s society, we must act on our dreams, no matter how absurd or outlandish they may be, and utterly strive to fulfill them, focusing on the goals we have at the end.
Miya Villarena is a native of Quezon City who currently lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with her parents and brother. She enjoys art, mathematics, chess, and a good book along with a cup of coffee on a winter day, as well as writing stories in her spare time. She is also fond of cats and surfing the internet. When asked who her muses are, Miya considers her greatest literary inspiration to be Mary Hoffman, and her favorite artist to be Brett Helquist.
